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1.7.6-Manypalimpsests
Les Miserables Vol. I: Book VII: Chapter VI. Sister Simplice Put to The Proof Hullo, everyone! My semester is over, so, as I finally have something resembling a steady supply of time and brainpower, I thought I’d jump in, and catch up on a parallel track at the same time. So! Here we go. I was telling guinevak that the hard part of this was going to be finding something to say that isn’t keyboard smash and gross sobbing. This is one of those chapters that sets me off like whoa. Fantine is amazing in it, and she and Simplice interact, which is one of my favorite things, and a lot of it is about Fantine’s relationship with Valjean, which is another of my favorite things, and a lot of the rest of it is about Fantine’s relationship with Cosette, which is yet another of my favorite things, and there’s a rather distressing lullaby! Does it get better? I’m always struck by how much this chapter catches the rhythm of a sickroom. The doctor comes in and out, makes comments, gives instructions, confers with the other caregivers, which in this case means Simplice, and has that ending moment of optimism. (Actually, it’s a testament to how good Hugo is with character portraits that this doctor, who is only in two chapters, never gets a name, and whom we never meet in anything other than a professional capacity, is nevertheless a full character. You get a certain sense of who he is, he feels like he has an existence beyond what the plot requires of him.) Simplice tries to keep Fantine calm, tries to make her comfortable. (Simplice is brave and steady, but we’re really all helpless in the face of the end of life, when death is not quite arrived, but survival is a rapidly vanishing prospect, and the routine Simplice, Madeline, the doctor, and Fantine have established between them has been disrupted, and that’s making it much harder on everyone.) And over everything there’s this constant focus on Fantine, this constant monitoring of her, the trying to divine how she is and how she is doing from outward signs. Is she nearer death or further from it? There’s only the outward signs to tell, as the closest the medical professionals in the room can get to her vital internal states are the quality of her breathing and her pulse. So. Watching her. Which works on multiple levels. Fantine’s interiority here is more than just the interiority, the unknowability, of her body. It’s the internal life of her mind, too. What Fantine is thinking, what she’s feeling, what conclusions she’s drawing throughout this chapter only come out in what she says. Some of it she says to herself, almost too low to be heard, but it’s still only what she says or what can be read from her face. Fantine’s thoughts are not accessible in this sequence. That lullaby, goodness. “Were God to give me his fairest star / I should love the babe thou hast given me more.” And she wants to see Madeleine! And the way she forgets that the doctor hasn’t been privy to the discussion about Cosette coming but then remembers and interrupts herself and explains and - Ffffff so good. I’m never going to be over Fantine fussing over how Madeleine will be cold, or her tangent about Cosette’s hands, or that lullaby. I am also never going to be over Simplice taking charge, or her trying to navigate the really awful question of what to tell Fantine. It’s partly a question of honesty, but it’s also a question of harm. Figuring out how not to cause the least harm is such a hard thing, and Simplice tries so hard to find an answer she can live with.